Internal-combustion engine.



H. L. ROGERS. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.28,IQIS.

LII. Q IK5Q6Q IaIonIvdSvpt. 5, 1916.

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HENRY I. EUGEES, F TORONTQ UNTARIO, CANA'IJA.

EHTEBNAL-dUMBUSTION ENG-ENE.

mum

specification or Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 21918.

Application filed August 22?, 1913. Serial 1V0. 7t57,135.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY LAUNDER Rooms, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and resident of the city of Toronto,

g county of York, Province of Ontario, in

the Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Internal-Combustion Engines, as described in thefollowing specificationsand illustrated in the accompanying drawings,that form part of the same.

The principal feature of the invention consists in the arrangement of anauxiliary inlet to the cylinder, whereby a supply of air or air andwater in a finely divided state is introduced into the cylinder separatefrom the charge of combustible gas being so directed as to remainseparate as far as possible from the combustible gas until ignitiontakes place utilizing the heat units which are usually absorbed andwasted in the cylinder walls converting the thermal energy into kineticenergy and eflecting the cooling of the cylinder.

The principal objects of the invention are, to utilize the thermalenergy of the gases of combustion t9 the fullest extent in the operationof the engine, and to eflect a saving of fuel.

A further and very important object is to provide within the cylinder astratum of a heat absorbing element which will centralize the intenseheat of combustion protecting the cylinder walls from excess expansionso that in large engines of high power it will be possible to increasethe diameter of the cylinder and will also eliminate many of thedifiiculties incident to Water cooling the cylinder.

It is a well known fact that the thermal energy of the explosion withinthe cylinder is wasted to a great extent in the present types ofinternal combustion engines and I propose to introduce into the cylindera ct charge of water in vaporous form bringing it into contact with thewalls of the explosion chamber to effect the cooling of the cylinder andto convert the vapor into an expansible gas which will upon ignition ofdo the more explosive gas be expanded to assist in the propulsion of thepiston.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a portionof the preferred form of cylinder for carrying this an invention into.eflect. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of acylinder showing a modified application of the invention. Fig. 3 is areduced trans verse sectional view through the line wb Fig. 2.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

Tn the form of the device shown in Fig. 1, 1 is the main portion of thecylinder in which the iston 2 operates. The head end 3 of the cy linderis here shown slightly reduced and formed with the side walls 4 leadingfrom a laterally arranged valve chamber 5 and flaring outwardly towardthe walls of the main portion of the cylinder. 6 is the fuel gas inletconnection, here shown secured in the top of the head 3 and extendinginwardly therefrom and formed with an annular wall 7 flaring outwardlyin an inverted cup-shape, the inner edge 8 being curved slightly inwardtoward the center. This cup shaped wall forms a chamber 9 within thecylinder head in which the explosive gas is compressed and fired. Themember 6 is connected to the ordinary carbureter (which is not shown)and is provided with a valve seat 10 at the top of the combustionchamber 9 and an inlet valve 11. 12 are a plurality of spirally arrangedribs formed on the outer side of the cup shaped wall 7. 13 is theigniter plug secured in the connection 6 and extending into thecombustion chamber 9 adjacent to the inlet port 12. 14 is the exhaustport closed by a valve 15. 16 is the auxiliary inlet port here shownarranged in the wall of the valve chamber 5 above the exhaust port 14and closed by a suitable valve 17, said port having communication with asuitable form of vaporizer. T have not shown any means for operatingthese valves as they can be operated in many ways and timed to open andclose the respective ports at the desired periods.

In the operation of this form of engine the inlet valve opens the port10 at the proper period in relation to the suction stroke of the pistonand a charge of explosive gas is drawn into the central chamber 9 andfollows the piston downwardly into the cylinder. The piston ispreferably formed with an annular flange 18 on its head of about thesame diameter as the inwardly curved portion of the wall of the chamber9 and co-acts with saidwall to centralize the combustible gas. The valve17 is operated to open the auxiliary inlet port'l6 coincident with theopening of the Bit port 10 and a charge of air or air and water vapor isdrawn into the valve chamher 5 and is directed into the cylinder throughthe annular passage 19 between the flaring wall 4 and the wall 7,beingthus directed against the inner wall of the main portion of thecylinder 1. The air or vapor in flowing through the passage 19 contactswith the spiral ribs 12 which impart a swirling motion. The combinedoutward direction and swirling movement cause the air or vapor to followdown the side walls of the cylinder, keeping it more or less separatefrom the explosive gas drawn into the central portion through the inlet10. The efi'ect of this cool charge being directed against the cylinderwall is that the heat absorbed by the cylinder wall during the explosionand exhaust strokes of the piston is absorbed inwardly instead of beingradiated outwardly. The outer stratum of water vapor and air and thespiral motion imparted to it by the vanes keeps it from readily minglingwith the explosive gas and it therefore preserves to a large degree thecentralization of the explosive gas even during compression and therewill be no dilution or weakening of the explosive gas within the cupshaped combustion chamber where the spark plug is located. 011 thecompletion of the compression stroke the ignition of the explosive gasin the charm her 9 takes place and as the piston recedes from thecylinder head in the power stroke the exploded" gas spreads outwardlyand mingles with the outer stratum of vapor expanding it, thus using thethermal energy of the explosion to the greatest advantage andincidentally minimizing the absorption of heat by the cylinder walls.During the exhaust stroke the exhaust gases escape through the port Mcirculating around the wall of the combustion chamber 9 imparting theheat contained therein to the said wall and to the outer wall of thecylinder head which heat is utilized in heating and expanding the freshcharge of air and vapor brought in through the inlet 16. The opening ofthe exhaust releases the burnt gases and on. the opening of the inlet 12the fresh charge drawn in during the suction stroke will clear out whatburnt products are left from the combustion chamber 9. There willtherefore always be a charge of fresh and highly combustible gas in thechamber 9 to receive the ignition and though the remaining portion ofthe compressed gas within the cylinder may be rarefied to such an extentthat it would not ignite with the spark such rarefied gas will igniteand explode upon the initial explosion of the richer gas. llt will thusbe seen that in the operation of the engine the amount of fuel gas usedmay be greatly reduced. The supply to each of these inlets will ofcourse be controlled separately in the usual manner of throttling and.the throttles may be operated according to the requirements of theengine in operation.

The form of device shown in Fig. 1 appears to be the most desirable butit must be understood that the principle involved may be carried out invarious ways without departing from the spirit of the invention andwhile I have not shown the cylinder water jacketed it may be foundexpedient to do so as the heat of combustion may not be dissipated tosuch an extent that the cylinder walls would not be heated to too high atemperature.

In Fig. 2 I show the application of my invention to the ordinary T typeof cylinder head having the exhaust 20 at one side and the gas intake 21on the other side. The auxiliary inlet 22 is arranged in the exhaustside of the head. In utilizing this style of engine the top 28 of thecylinder head is formed with a transversely arranged baffle flange 24and a plurality of transversely radiating ribs 25 extending toward theexhaust. in this form the explosive gas is directed inwardly anddownwardly at one side of the cylinder and the vaporized air enteringthrough the auxiliary inlet 22 is brought into contact with theradiating ribs and directed downwardly around the inner walls of thecylinder. The combustion chamber 26 in which the spark plug 27 islocated will retain a supply of the explosive gas so that the primaryignition will take place in a similar manner to that described.

in constructing an engine with an auxiliary inlet to be utilized in themanner described the energy of the heat of combustion is more fullyutilized and incidental to this feature in small engines the cylindersnot requiring water jackets are therefore of much lighter and neaterconstruction and the elimination of water cooling obviates the manydifiiculties incidental thereto such as defective radiators and thediliiculties of extremes of temperature and the proper regulation of thetemperature of the cylinders.

By the present method the walls of the cylinder are kept at a much moreconstant and lower temperature by the direction of the cool vaporizedair thereagainst and the fracturing of the metal through excessiveexpansion will be obviated.

What ll claim as my invention is 1. In an internal combustion engine, a

cylinder formed with the side walls converging inwardly at the head endand having an inlet through the convergent portion communicating with anauxiliary air or water vapor supply, a main inlet centrally arranged inthe head and connected with a fuel supply an annular bafile surround ingsaid main inlet and projecting into the cylinder and separating the fuelinlet from the'auxiliary air inlet said baffle flaring toward thecylinder walls and with the convergent portion thereof forming anannular passage adapted to direct the indrawn air or vapor from theauxiliary inlet in an out- Ward direction toward the main cylinder wallsto form a stratum of a cooling medium between the cylinder walls and thecombustible charge.

2. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder formed with a convergentannular passage in the head open to communication with the cylinder atthe bottom and having a lateral valve chamber communicating therewith,an inlet passage leading to said valve chamber from an air or watervapor supply, an exhaust passage. leading from said valve chamber, avalve closing said exhaust passage, a main fuel inlet arranged in thecylinder head and entering the cylinder independent of theannular inletpassage, the Walls of said inlet passage extending inwardly into thecylinder and forming a central combustion chamber, a valve controllingthe inlet, and an ignition member arranged in said combustion chamber.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having an annular wallextending inwardly from the head and spaced from the cylinder wall andforming a central combustion chamber, a fuel inlet leading to thecombustion chamber, an exhaust communicating with the passage betweenthe cylinder wall and the wall of said combustion chamber, an auxiliaryinlet leading to the passage surrounding said combustion chamber andadapted to communicate with a supply of air or vapor, and a pluralityofspirally arranged ribs projecting into the passages surrounding thecombustion chamber.

Signedat the city of Toronto, county of York, Province of Ontario, inthe Dominion of Canada, this 22d day of August, 1913.

HENRY L. ROGERS.

Witnesses:

H. L. TRIMBLE, D. S. TOVELL.

